Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond signed off from his 2019 Asian Tour season just like the way he started when he cruised to a commanding five-shot victory at the Thailand Masters on Sunday.
It has been a stunning year for the 24-year-old as he triumphed again for the second time in two weeks after closing with a six-under-par 65 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.
Jazz got off to a flying start when he won the Asian Tour’s season-opener in Singapore in January. 12 months later, he would end the year by capturing his sixth Asian Tour title and fourth this season on home soil.
Jazz’s winning total of 23-under-par 261 at a venue which he won before too meant he will break into the top-40 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), a target he had set out to achieve at the start of the week.
Compatriot Suradit Yongcharoenchai tried to surmount a late challenge by firing seven birdies and one eagle for a 62 but it was still not enough to catch the 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion on a day where he was simply unstoppable.
Surdait ended his last event of the year by sharing second place with compatriot Phachara Khongwatmai and Belgium’s Thomas Detry while American Berry Henson also enjoyed his second top-10 of 2019 with a tied-seventh finish at the Thailand Masters.
Did you know?
- With this win Jazz Janewattanond will become only the second player in Asian Tour history to win four events in the same season. The only player to do so previously was compatriot Thaworn Wiratchant in 2005.
- The Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club was the scene of Jazz’s second Asian Tour win when he emerged victorious at the Queen’s Cup presented by Bangchak last year.
- He will also surpass US$1,000,000 in earnings this season. Before Jazz this had only been achieved by Jeev Milkha Singh (2008), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2013), Anirban Lahiri (2015) and Scott Hend (2016).
- In a final round of six-under-par 65 that included eight birdies, Jazz one-putted 13 times and only needed 24 putts. He also ranked first in the field in putts per greens-in-regulation for the week.
- In his last two events on the Asian Tour this season, Jazz is a combined 46-under-par, an average of -5.75 or 65.75 per round.
- Shooting a round of 11-under-par 60 in yesterday’s third round, he equaled the lowest ever round in an official Asian Tour event.
- This week is Jazz’s 35th tournament played in 2019. The only other player in the top-100 on the OWGR that has player who has played as many events is Sungjae Im of Korea.
- By winning the last event of the Asian Tour season Jazz will go to 40th on the OWGR, one week after cracking the world top-50 for the first time in his career.
- By virtue of his phenomenal play this year Jazz will be exempt for three out of the four Majors in 2020, the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship and the Open. He has also qualified for two of the World Golf Championships- WGC-Mexico and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
- With his tied-second finish this week Suradit Yongcharoenchai will finish fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with US$277,460 in earnings, easily surpassing his previous best mark of 34th in 2018.
- In today’s bogey free round of nine-under-par 62 that included one eagle and seven birdies, Suradit hit 16/18 greens-in-regulation and only had 27 putts.
- His breakthrough Asian Tour victory came at this year’s Mercuries Taiwan Master in October, winning the title by one stroke ahead of a trio of players.
- The Thai has also had two other top-10 finishes this season, with a tied-eighth at the Yeangder TPC and a tied-10th at the Classic Golf and Country International Championship.
- With his tied-second finish this week, Phachara Khongwatmai ended the year with a total of six top-10s this season
- This summer he won the GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal, a two-player team event on the European Tour, together with compatriot, and this week’s host, Thongchai Jaidee.
- Thomas Detry missed out on winning his first event on a major Tour again. He finished tied-fourth at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open just one stroke out of the playoff a fortnight ago.
- The Belgian also had a high finish in November when he came in tied-third at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, one of European Tour’s Rolex Series events.
Players’ Quotes
Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) Fourth round 65 (-6) Total 261 (-23)
It’s a huge honour to win on home soil and especially at an event promoted by the Jaidee Foundation. To be honest, I didn’t expect to win last week as I was not feeling too well as it was really cold in Japan and I had to adjust myself back to the weather conditions in Indonesia. I was struggling at the start of the week. It was the same this week too as I was really tired. But I guess it was about survival as I was in the zone and didn’t want to think too much about my score. It is indeed a very good year. I had four wins this year and I ended the year the way I started. I don’t think I was actually cruising towards another win today as I was really tired and made some silly mistakes. But I managed to recover well and it was really nice to close with round with that long birdie putt from 15 feet. I set myself small realistic goals so that I can achieve them and I’m glad I managed to achieve that this week.
Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) Fourth round 62 (-9) Total 266 (-18)
It has been a very good year for me and even better to finish it off with such a good score too. I cannot ask for more. I won once already at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and ended the year inside the top-10 on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. My goals are definitely going to be higher for 2020 and I’m looking forward to another win again.
Thomas Detry (Bel) Fourth round 69 (-2) Total 266 (-18)
Today was a bit frustrating, I never really got anything going. I played pretty well, one of my best days to be honest. A lot of very good tee shots but couldn’t really make any putts or build any momentum on the golf course. So that was about it. I’m flying back home tonight. You know, I was trying to take this week as a holiday but it was actually a bit more tiring than a holiday. I still finished second which is not bad for a holiday. I’m going to go back home and spend some time with my family and put my mind away from the golf course for a few days.
Berry Henson (Usa) Fourth round 65 (-6) Total 269 (-15)
It was a much needed result and really satisfying. I played well on the first day and then my back began to stiffen and I was really struggling on Friday and Saturday. Thank goodness Thongchai had a party last night, I had a few beers and was dancing. Then my back loosen up and I felt really good today! So maybe I need a Thongchai party every week on Tour and continue shooting 65s. I played two really nice rounds this week and my ball striking and putting are slowly coming around.
Leading Scores after round 4 of the Thailand Masters being played at the par 71, 6889 Yards Phoenix Gold GCC course (am – denotes amateur):
261 – Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 69-67-60-65.
266 – Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 67-70-67-62, Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 66-64-69-67, Thomas Detry (BEL) 63-68-66-69.
267 – Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 65-68-68-66.
268 – Jarin Todd (USA) 67-69-67-65.
269 – Berry Henson (USA) 65-69-70-65, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 68-71-64-66, Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA) 69-67-65-68, Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 68-68-65-68.
270 – Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 67-66-70-67.
271 – Settee Prakongvech (THA) 64-73-69-65, Kyongjun Moon (KOR) 68-66-71-66, Tanapat Pichaikool (am, THA) 68-68-68-67, Kosuke Hamamoto (THA) 68-64-71-68, Wang Wei-hsuan (TPE) 66-67-70-68, Scott Hend (AUS) 68-66-68-69, Panuphol Pittayarat (THA) 67-66-68-70.
For full results, download here.
